By Ashley Tang
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Malaysia’s king agreed on Friday to allow jailed former premier Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, the government said, four years after his conviction for his involvement in a multi-billion-dollar financial scandal.
Najib, prime minister from 2009 to 2018, was found guilty of corruption in relation to the embezzlement of billions of dollars tied to 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a state investment fund he co-founded while in power. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.
“King Sultan Ibrahim has consented to grant a conditional pardon to Najib Razak, allowing him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until August 23, 2028,” the prime minister’s legal department said in a statement.
In the 1MDB scandal, more than $1 billion allegedly made its way into accounts linked to Najib, 73, who says he has been made the scapegoat for a complex, globe-spanning scheme that siphoned away as much as $4.5 billion in funds, according to US investigators.
NAJIB A DIVISIVE FIGURE
It was the second pardon for Najib, who under the previous king in 2024 had his 12-year sentence halved and the fines imposed on him reduced. Najib had insisted that the decision also allowed him to serve out his term under house arrest, but a legal effort to secure that was unsuccessful.
Najib was also convicted in a separate 1MDB-related case in December last year, for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $2.8 billion for abuse of power and money laundering. He has lodged an appeal in that case.
Despite being jailed, Najib is a divisive figure in Malaysian politics and is still influential in the once-dominant United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which is part of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s multi-party government.
Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan alliance has opposed leniency towards Najib and the pardon could widen fissures in his administration. Though the next election is not due until early 2028, Anwar has said he might consider calling a snap poll if the rifts deepen.
Pakatan teamed up with rival UMNO to form a government in 2022 when a general election left Malaysia with a hung parliament, but relations are now testy following a series of internal disagreements, including on the treatment of Najib.
PARDON ‘A BIG WIN FOR UMNO’
Anwar’s public support has taken a hit and it is unclear how his coalition would fare if an early election was called. Pakatan was trounced twice in the past two months by UMNO’s Barisan Nasional coalition in state elections.
Najib was also fined 50 million ringgit ($12.27 million) as a condition of his house arrest. It was not immediately clear when he would leave prison and his legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Syaza Shukri, a political scientist at the International Islamic University Malaysia, said the pardon was bad news for Anwar and a boon for Najib’s UMNO ahead of the next election.
“The impact on Anwar and his government is really bad unless they can explain to the people the constitutionality and limitations they face,” she said.
“This is a big win for UMNO and they would feel more confident and emboldened going forward to get things going their way, looking like they will be the next government in waiting.”
(Reporting by Ashley Tang; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by David Stanway)
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